On-line interaction system

ABSTRACT

An avatar display system monitors the activities or status of different members on a network site. Avatars representing the different members are displayed in conjunction with an on-line application according to the different identified member activities or status. Different avatar display techniques and filtering schemes are used to both promote and improve interactions between different members of the on-line application or website.

BACKGROUND

People use email and chat rooms to interact with each other overelectronic networks such as the Internet. Although the advance of theInternet and networking technology in general has improved interactionand communication between people, the tools available for promoting orenabling these interactions are relatively primitive. For example, tointeract with a particular person online, a user typically has tomanually identify and enter an Internet email address or on-line username associated with another person. Identifying these cryptic emailaddresses or user names is at best cumbersome and hinders theinteractions between people over electronic networks. The disclosurethat follows solves this and other problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An avatar display system monitors the activities or status of differentmembers on a network site. Avatars representing the different membersare displayed in conjunction with an on-line application according tothe different identified member activities or status. In one embodimentthe avatars are scrolled across a display page as a human ticker. Theavatars can also be used to identify different email message conditionsand different contact relationships.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example avatar display system.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing some of the operations performed by theavatar display system in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3A-3C examples of how avatars are displayed by the display system.

FIG. 4 shows another example of how avatars are displayed by the displaysystem.

FIG. 5 shows how avatars are faded in and out.

FIG. 6 shows how the avatars are varied according to different on-linemember status.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing in more detail how the avatars arevaried according to different on-line member status.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing how avatars are varied according todifferent on-line member activities.

FIG. 9A is a flow diagram showing how avatars are displayed or variedaccording to different related member information.

FIG. 9B is a flow diagram showing how avatars are filtered.

FIGS. 10, 11A, and 11B show how the avatar display system is used inconjunction with an email system.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing how the avatar display system can beused to identify common contacts for different members.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram explaining FIG. 12 in more detail.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing how the avatar display system can beused in conjunction with a social on-line website.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Several preferred examples of the present application will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. Various otherexamples of the invention are also possible and practical. Thisapplication may be exemplified in many different forms and should not beconstrued as being limited to the examples set forth herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example avatar display system 12. An avatardisplay controller 24 displays different avatars 28 in a computer page26 displayed on the screen of a computer 32. The avatar displaycontroller 24 may be software that is executed by a computer 13 orcomputer logic.

In one example, computer 13 is a server or other type of networkprocessing device that either stores or accesses information fromanother computer, that includes a user profile 14, log files 16, contactlist 18, and an email directory 20. The computer 13 may also store oraccess the profiles, log files, contacts, and email directories 22 forother members of a same web-site, Local Area Network (LAN), or otheron-line application.

In one embodiment, the computer 13 communicates with multiple differentcomputers 32 for a particular website. For example, a user of computer32 may access website applications 25 that are operated on computer 13via the Internet. In another embodiment, the computer 13 may be a serverin an enterprise or in a residential location that operates differenton-line applications 25 that are accessed by computer 32 via a LANconnection.

The computer 32 may be a Personal Computer (PC), lap-top computer,cellular telephone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Internet Protocol(IP) phone, IPTV, or any other type of wired or wireless device thataccesses the different website or on-line applications 25.

Any combination of web or on-line applications 25 may be located on thesame or different computers 13. Similarly, the profiles 14, log files16, contact lists 18, email directories 20, and other similar user ormember information 22 may be located on a same computer 13 or may bedistributed on multiple different computers. However, for simplicity ofillustration, all of the on-line applications 25 and associatedinformation 14-22 is shown contained on computer 13.

Avatar Display Controller

Avatars 28 are Internet website or on-line representations oridentifiers of a particular user, member, organization, event, content,notification, or any other piece of information that may need to becommunicated to others. The avatars 28 can take the form of two orthree-dimensional images, icons, sounds, video clips, text, or any otheridentifier of a particular human-being, content, or event associatedwith a user name, email address, or other on-line identifier.

Avatars 28 can also take the form of icons that are associated withdifferent types of events or different types of information. Forexample, a user may not necessarily want to display an image ofthemselves to other members. Alternatively, the user may want display anicon avatar to other members representing a word document, spread sheetdocument, power point document, etc. The icon avatar notifies othermembers that the document exists and further allows each of the othermembers to see the document simply by selecting the icon avatar 28.Switching from an avatar containing an image of the user to an iconavatar that represents a word document written by the user immediatelynotifies others that the user has completed drafting a documentassociated with the icon avatar.

Other avatars may not necessarily be associated with a user or document,but associated with an activity or event. For example, a user may wantto notify other members of a party or meeting on a particular day. Theavatar representing this event can be selected in the user profile 14 toreplace another avatar that contains an image of the user.

In yet another embodiment, the avatars 28 may contain additional statusinformation associated with the user. For example, the avatar 28 mayprovide different bordering or colors according a preferredcommunication method. For example, any users that prefer to be contactedvia email may have a black border around their avatar and users thatprefer to be contacted via instant messaging may have a blue borderaround their avatar. Clicking on the avatar will then automaticallyconnect to the user via the preferred communication method.

The avatar display controller 24 monitors combinations of differentinformation 14-20 associated with a particular user and possibly otherinformation 22 associated with other members of the web-site or otheron-line application 24. Based on this monitoring, the controller 24displays different avatars 28 that provide the user of electronic page26 with more intuitive and easier to access information about otheron-line members.

The user profile 14 may include Internet or on-line identifiers 14A suchas a user name and email address. Demographic information 14B mayinclude the home or business address, age, and sex of the user; and mayidentify other user interests. For example, the user interests indemographic information 14B may identify particular sports, groupsassociations, hobbies, etc.

Avatar preferences 14C in user profile 14 may identify what image, soundclip, video clip, picture, etc. to display as the avatar for the user ofprofile 14. Avatar preferences 14C may also identify how avatars forother members should be displayed. For example, a default avatarpreference may simply cause controller 24 to randomly display avatarsfor any members that are currently on-line. Alternatively, the user maychange the avatar preferences 14C to only display avatars for on-linemembers that are in the user's contact list 18. A variety of otheravatar preferences 14C can also be configured and will be described inmore detail below.

Activity information 14D identifies particular involvement, memberstatus, activities, etc. associated with the user. For example,co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/627,326, filed Jan. 25,2007, entitled: APPARATUS FOR INCREASING SOCIAL INTERACTION OVER ANELECTRONIC NETWORK, is herein incorporated by reference. Thisapplication describes a website that assigns points to users accordingto different on-line social interactions. For example, points areawarded according to a number of uploaded pictures and associatedrankings by other members. Activity information 14D identifies theseactivities and/or the points or status awarded these activities.

Activity information 14D may also identify payments made by the user.For example, a user may pay money to join a website. Paying users maythen receive a different member status from other members that join thewebsite for free. In one example, a user may pay the operators of thewebsite to display their avatar 28 differently than the avatarsdisplayed for other non-playing website members.

Contact list 18 may include any of the conventional contact information.For example, the contact list 18 may contain the name, email address,home/business address, phone numbers, etc. of people known by the user.

Email directory 20 may include any data typically associated with theemail messages and configurations contained in a user email system. Forexample, the email directory may contain all of the emails sent to theuser, identify the number of unopened emails, identify the time wheneach email was received, etc. The email directory 20 may also includeother email configuration data such as an out of office statusidentifier. For example, email configuration data may automatically sendemail notifications when a user is not in the office.

Member information 22 contains some or all of the same information 14-20for other members or users of the same on-line application or website.For example, all of the users that sign-up for a particular website andhave an associated user profile may be considered as other members.Similarly, persons working for a same enterprise that have a user loginand password may be considered members of the same on-line applicationby the controller 24. According, the member information 22 may containinformation for these other enterprise employees. The other memberscould also be considered a subgroup within an enterprise, such as theemployees associated with a particular email group or organizationdepartment. For example, the other member information 22 may only beassociated with employees working in the accounting department of aparticular enterprise.

FIG. 2 shows some of the basic operations that may be performed by theavatar display controller 24 in FIG. 1. In operation 40, user profile 14is checked for any avatar preferences. As described above, the avatarpreferences 14C may identify the photograph, sound clip, image, videoclip, etc. to use with the user's avatar 28. Other avatar preferences14C may also determine what avatars to display for other members. Inoperation 42, the other member profiles and/or log files 22 are checkedaccording to any user avatar preference settings 14C. For example, adefault avatar preference 14C may direct the avatar display controllerto randomly display avatars for all members that are currently on-line.Accordingly, operation 42 would identify any members that are currentlyon-line, and operation 44 would display the avatars for the identifiedon-line members.

Alternatively, the avatar settings identified in operation 40 may directthe controller to only display avatars for known on-line membersidentified in the user contact list 18. In this example, operation 42may first determine which members are currently on-line and thendetermine which of the on-line members are identified in the usercontact list 18. The avatars 28 for the known on-line members are thendisplayed in operation 44.

In yet another embodiment, the avatar preferences in operation 40 mayindicate that avatars only be displayed for members who have postedblogs to a particular website or webpage. Operation 42 determines whichmembers have posted blogs on the identified website and operation 44displays the avatars 28 for the identified members.

In operation 46, the user log files 16 may be periodically monitored.The avatars currently being displayed may then be dynamically changed inoperation 48 according to the monitored user log file 16. For example,the user could have configured the avatar preferences 14C to onlydisplay the avatars for members that are currently accessing or browsinga same website location. Operation 46 monitors the user log files 16 todetermine which webpage the user is currently accessing or browsing.Operation 48 then displays the avatars 28 for other members currentlyaccessing or browsing the same webpages.

The user may configure other avatar preferences 14C. For example, theuser may request only displaying avatars, or request displaying specialavatars, for members that have just recently logged into the website orother on-line application.

It should be understood that the examples given above and furtherexamples given below only describe some of the unlimited number of usercriteria that may be used to control what avatars are displayed toparticular users. Any arbitrary criteria can selected or input into anyarbitrarily provided field to control what information or avatars arestatically or dynamically displayed on page 26. For example, avatars canbe displayed for any combination of on-line male members, on-line femalemembers, zip codes, etc.

In another business application, an enterprise manager can selectparameters that cause only the avatars to be displayed for employeesthat have some configurable amount of sales for some configurable typeof product for some configurable time period based on a configurableemployment date. For example, a manager may configure the system in FIG.1 to display the avatars for sales staff that have sold more than$100,000 worth of software and that have only been working for thecompany for less than one year.

Displaying Avatars

FIGS. 3A-3C show one example of how the avatars 28 are scrolled acrosselectronic page 26. A lower part of the page 26 may display any itemsfor the related on-line application 30. For example, the on-lineapplication 30 may display webpages for a website application, emailin-box for an email on-line application, or display any other userinterface for any on-line application that may be used in combinationwith avatars 28.

In this example, different avatars 28A-28E are displayed in a verticalrow along the upper half of display page 26. In this example, theavatars 28A-28E constantly move from right to left, similar to a stockticker. This type of avatar display is referred to generally as a humanstock ticker. Each avatar 28A-28E may also have an associated link29A-29E, respectively, that in one example display the associated memberuser name.

Clicking either on the link 29 or on the associated avatar 28 may thencause the on-line application 30 to perform a particular operationrelated to the associated member. For example, clicking on link 29B maycause the application 30 to move to a personal website for the memberBILLY associated with avatar 28B. For an email on-line application 30,selecting avatar 28B could either open an email message that containsthe email address of the associated member BILLY. Alternatively,selecting the avatar 28B could display all emails received from theassociated member BILLY.

Any other associated on-line interaction can also be captured orperformed. For example, the on-line application 30 could notify themember associated with the selected avatar 28B that the user clicked orhovered over their avatar, thus promoting possible further communicationbetween the two on-line members. This, in a way, simulates an actualface to face social interaction where two people may first catch eyecontact and then continue the social interaction by actually initiatinga conversation.

FIG. 3B shows an instant in time after FIG. 3A. Comparing FIGS. 3A and3B, the left most avatar 28A in FIG. 3A scrolls off the screen at thenext instant in time shown in FIG. 3B. All of the remaining avatars28B-28E are scrolled to the left and a new avatar 28F for another membermoves into the right most avatar position in FIG. 3B. FIG. 3C shows aneven later instant in time after FIG. 3B. Here, the avatar 28A from FIG.3A loops back to the right most position with all the other avatars28C-28F all scrolled further to the left. The previous left most avatar28B from FIG. 3B scrolls off the left end of the display page 26. Asdescribed above, the avatars 28 may be randomly displayed showing themembers of a website application or other on-line application that arecurrently logged or signed in. Displaying the avatars 28 of the log-inmembers in combination with scrolling the avatars 28 across the displaypage 26 provides a more dynamic technique for notifying users ofdifferent member status. Statically displaying avatars with no motionmay cause the user to stop viewing the avatars and thus not noticemembers that only recently logged in. Thus, the ‘human stock ticker’ canbe more effective in notifying the user of other on-line members, andthus promoting or simplifying social interactions.

Alternative Avatar Displays

It should be understood that the avatars 28 can be scrolled in anyconfigurable or selectable pattern and direction. For example, FIG. 4shows another embodiment where the avatars 28 are scrolled around in acircle or square pattern in a counter clockwise direction. In thisexample, each avatar 28 may continuously fade in and out with theavatars of other on-line members. In another embodiment, the avatars 28may be displayed vertically down either side of the display window 26.

FIG. 5 shows in more detail how avatars 28 may be faded in and out toshow either the avatar of another member or to change the avatar for thesame member. Any number of existing display techniques can be used todynamically alter the currently displayed avatar. The example shown inFIG. 5 is purely for illustrative purposes and any other fade in-fadeout technique could just as easily be used.

In FIG. 5, a first avatar 28A associated with a first on-line member HITis displayed in full size and then faded out as the avatar 28A moves tothe left. Images or other media associated with different members may befaded out as images or media associated with another member is fadedinto the same avatar slot while the avatar slot is being scrolled acrossthe computer screen.

Alternatively, avatar 28A may be displayed in a static non-scrollingposition and other avatars faded in and out of the same non-scrollingavatar position. For example, a second avatar 28C may be faded into thesame avatar position 31 as avatar 28A is faded out. The avatar 28A isshown fading out by getting smaller in different positions moving towardthe left and a second avatar 28C is shown fading into the same positionby getting larger in different positions moving toward the left.However, in the static avatar example mentioned above, the fad-out ofavatar 28A and the fad-in of avatar 28C may all happen in the sameavatar location 31.

In another embodiment, the avatars may not necessarily fade-in andfade-out by changing the image size. Alternatively, the brightness ofthe first avatar may simply be reduced until it can no longer be easilyseen. A brightness level of a second avatar is then gradually increasedfrom a very low non-viewable intensity to a normal easily viewablebrightness.

Of course any other type of fad-in and fad-out technique can also beused. For example, small pixels of the same or different colors may berandomly displayed over the first avatar until the first avatar iscompletely covered and no longer viewable. Then the same or differentpixels may be gradually removed to eventually display the second avatar.

Thus, either a dynamic scrolling activity, a dynamic fad-in/fad-outactivity, or both, can be used to provide the user with better memberon-line status notifications. Of course, in another embodiment, avatarsmay be statically displayed with no scrolling or fad-in and fad-outoperations. Any combination of these different display options may beconfigured by the user in the user preferences 14C.

Similarly, any audio clips, video clips, etc. associated with aparticular member may be faded in or out for the associated member. Theimages associated with a particular member may not necessarily be photosof the member. For example, the images may be an image or picture ofsomething the member wishes to associate with. For example, the imagemay be of a tiger, cartoon character, etc.

The member may also combine this image with an actual picture ofthemselves. For example, the avatar 28 associated with the member mayfirst display a picture of a tiger. The tiger avatar may then fade outand the actual picture of the member faded in. This fade in-fade outtechnique allows the member to display what they believe to be theirtrue inner self, such as a tiger. The tiger avatar is first displayedand then faded out. The actual picture of the member is then faded inshowing the actual outer self of the member.

FIG. 6 shows another feature of the avatar display system that variesthe avatar frames 50 according to different member status or activity.The avatar frames 50 are shown as different types of dashed, dotted, andbolded lines in FIG. 6. However, it should be understood these differentlines can represent any color, outlining, shape, pixel intensity, avatarshape, avatar color, avatar intensity, audio clip, film clip, etc. thatmay further distinguish between the displayed avatars 28.

Referring to both FIGS. 6 and 7, operation 60 of FIG. 7 identifies allmembers that are currently on-line. Operation 62 identifies the avatarimages and any other avatar preferences for the on-line members. In FIG.6, avatar 28A may be displayed with a generic default frame 50A that isgenerally displayed for all on-line members that are not classifiedunder any other avatar category.

The member associated with avatar 28B has been identified by the avatardisplay controller 24 in FIG. 1 as a new member. For example, theprofile associated with avatar 28B may indicate the member has only beensigned up to the on-line application 30 for less than one week.Accordingly, the new member is assigned an associated new-member avatarframe 50B in operation 66.

In operation 68, different member status levels are identified. Asdescribed briefly above, some on-line applications 30 may assign memberspoints or other classifications. For example, the social networkingon-line application 30 described above assigns points to membersaccording to the number of uploaded pictures, the number and types ofratings received from other members, and generally the amount of socialinteraction with other members.

These points determine a particular membership level, such as mastermember, intermediate member, novice member, etc. The membership levelsare identified in operation 68 and different avatar frames 50 assignedin operation 70 according to the identified membership level. Forexample, in FIG. 6, the member associated with avatar 28C may beidentified as a master member. Accordingly, the member is assigned amaster member avatar frame 50C in operation 70.

Some members may pay to have special frames displayed along to theiravatars to foster more member attention. The avatar display controllerin operation 72 looks in the member profiles for any members that havepurchased special avatar frames. The purchased avatars frames are thenassigned to the avatars for those purchasing members in operation 74.For example in FIG. 6, the member associated with avatar 28E may havepurchased an emboldened frame 50D.

As described above, on-line members that do not qualify under any ofthese special avatar frame categories may be assigned a default avatarframes in operation 76. For example, similar to avatar 28A, the memberassociated with avatar 28D also does not qualify for any other specialavatar framing. Accordingly, avatar 28D is assigned the same defaultframe 50A as avatar 28B.

In operation 78, the avatars 28 for all of the on-line members are thendisplayed with their configured avatar settings and assigned avatarframes. Thus, different member categories, activities, or status can bedistinguished using the avatars 28.

Any other information may also be displayed along with the avatars 28.For example, avatar 28D indicates that the associated member iscurrently browsing the same blog site as the user. In other examples,avatar 28A identifies the number of photos uploaded by the associatedmember and avatar 28C indicates the associated member is currentlyviewing the user's personal webpage or photos.

FIG. 8 shows other member activities that can change the type ofassigned avatar 28 or type of avatar frame 50. In operation 80, themember profiles or log files are scanned for different activities. Inone example, operation 81 identifies the number of pictures uploaded bythe member and operation 82 identifies the number of blog postings bythe member.

Operation 83 identifies recent or frequent user activities. For example,the user may have recently uploaded photos or recently posted a messageon a blog. Similarly, other members that have recently or frequentlyinteracted with the user can be identified. Other members that haverecently exchanged messages with the user or who have recently exchangeda virtual gift from the user can also be identified. Other members thathave a large number of similar activities can also be identified. Forexample, the user may frequently access a particular web-site. Othermembers that also frequently access the same website can be identified.

Recent and frequent user activities can both be identified and weightedto determine which avatars are displayed to which members. For example,fewer more recent activities may be identified and a larger number ofsimilar possibly less recent activities may also be identified. Allthese parameters can be identified by the controller 24 by searching theuser log files 16 and the other member information 22 in FIG. 1.

Operation 84 may also search for user activity preferences in thepreferences 14C shown in FIG. 1. For example, a user may indicate inpreferences 14C a desire to play on-line games. In another example, theactivity preferences may also indicate a request for other members tobuy the user electronic issued virtual gifts or virtual drinks. This canbe thought of as a virtual “wish list”.

Operation 85 determines the user classification or status and displaysdifferent avatars according to that classification or status. Thecontact list 18 and/or the preferences 14C in FIG. 1 may be checked todetermine how these classifications or status relate to other members.For example, a first formal picture of the user may be provided inpreferences 14C for displaying as an avatar to co-workers and anothercasual picture may be provide in preferences 14C for displaying as anavatar to other members of an on-line social networking site or to otheruser contacts. Other pictures may be provided for displaying to females,males, different age groups, etc.

Different avatars 28, or different associated frames 50, may then bedisplayed or highlighted in operation 86 according to the number ofspecific activities identified in operations 82-85. For example, thecontroller 24 in FIG. 1 may determine that the user has set a preferenceindicating a desire to play on-lines games. The controller 24 thengenerates a particular avatar that identifies the user as a “gamer”.This gamer indication may be a particular color, shading, icon, sound,movement, etc. associated with the avatar.

Other interaction preferences may also be associated with the displayedavatars. For example, a user may request virtual gifts in the activitypreferences identified in operation 84. The avatar for that user may bedisplayed along with a small gift package that represents the requestedvirtual gift user activity.

In another example, the controller 24 identifies all of the recent andfrequent activities of the user and then only displays the avatars forother members that are associated with those activities. For example,the controller 24 may only display the avatars for other members thathave recently exchanged messages with the user and display the avatarsfor other members who have recently accessed the same blogs as the user.

A formal avatar picture may be displayed to co-workers identified inmember information 22 in FIG. 1. A casual avatar picture may then bedisplayed to other non-work related social members. In another examplementioned above, a first avatar contained in preferences 14C may bedisplayed to female members identified in member information 22 and asecond different avatar in preferences 14C may be displayed to malesmembers identified in member information 22.

In another embodiment, different avatars may be displayed to membershaving different status levels. For example, an expert level member on asocial website may only be shown the avatars of other expert levelmembers. Alternatively, a first user avatar may be shown to novice levelmembers and a second user avatar may be shown to expert level members.Similarly, users identified as software programmers in their userprofiles may only be shown the avatars of other software programmerswhile a manager at the same enterprise may be shown the avatars of allemployees.

The examples above are only some of the substantially infinite number ofactivities or interactions that can be associated with the displayedavatars.

Filtering

The avatars 28 displayed to a particular user may not necessarilyinclude all of the on-line members. For example, a particular user mayonly desire to see avatars for known members or members havingparticular demographics. In these cases, different avatar displaypreferences 14C in FIG. 1 may be set to filter certain avatars beforebeing displayed to the user.

FIG. 9A shows just some of the different parameters that may be used tofilter avatars. Any combination of the different filtering criteriadescribed in FIG. 9A may be used and other criteria not shown in FIG. 9Acan also be used. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 9A, operation 90 scans theuser profile 14, user contact list 18, and/or user log files 16 inFIG. 1. Similarly, operation 92 may scan the profiles, contact lists,and log files 22 for other members. Operation 94 compares the usercontact list with the identified on-line members. Operation 96 displaysany on-line members that are contained in the user contact list 18.Other on-line member avatars may also be displayed in operation 96. Inthis case, the avatars for the on-line members contained in the usercontact list (known members) may be highlighted in a distinguishingmanner from other displayed avatars as shown in FIG. 6.

Operation 98 identifies the webpage or display window currently beingviewed by the user and identifies other members browsing the samelocation in the on-line application. Operation 100 may then display theavatars for other members currently viewing the same webpage or displaywindow. Similar to operation 96, if other avatars are also displayed atthe same time, the avatars for the members browsing the same on-linelocations may alternatively be highlighted in a distinguishing manner asshown in FIG. 6.

Operation 102 may compare the geographic information 14B and/or avatarpreferences 14C in the user profile 14 with the geographic information22 of other members. Operation 104 may then displays the avatars 28 formembers located in the same city, state, or other geographic regionspecified by the user.

Other demographic or social information may also be used as a basis fordisplaying avatars. For example, operation 106 may compare the sex, age,or other interests specified in demographic information 14B with relatedinformation 22 for other members. The avatars for members having similardemographics or other interests are then displayed in operation 108. Forexample, the user can configure profile 14 to only display avatars forwomen members that live within 20 miles of the user.

FIG. 9B shows how other aspects of the filtering system can be used forany combination of user selectable or user non-selectable preconfiguredparameters. For example, certain categories of users may not have theability to control filtering while other categories of users can controlthe types of filters associated with their own avatars. Different typesof filtering may be provided to users based on different status levels,different user activities, or according to an amount of money paid bythe user.

Referring to both FIG. 1 and FIG. 9B, the controller 24 shown in FIG. 1scans any combination of the user profile 14, log files 16, contact list18, email directory 20, and other member information 22 to identify anyparameters that may be associated with outgoing filter parameters. Theuser preferences 14C in FIG. 1 may identify different types of outgoingfilters that the user may want to activate. For example, the user mayonly want to show his avatar to other on-line members that are in theuser contact list 18.

In another example, the information in user demographics 14B incombination with the user preferences 14C may be used by the controller24 to determine that avatars should only be shown to other members ofthe opposite sex that are within a particular user age range and arewithin a particular geographic distance from the user's address.

In yet another example, the controller 24 first determines if the userhas paid for filtering services via the pay status indicated in activityinformation 14D. If the user has not paid for filtering services, then adefault filtering may be used. Otherwise, the controller 24 may displaydifferent filtering options to the user. For example, the controller 24may ask the user what type of highlighting the user wishes to apply tothe outline of their avatar or may supply the user with severaldifferent options for which types of members to display the user avatar.

In another advertising application, the user may be associated with abusiness that wishes to advertise to particular on-line members. Thebusiness may pay to display an avatar advertisement to any on-linemembers that are currently accessing a particular webpage. Similarly,the business user may pay to have their advertisement avatar displayedto any on-line members within a particular geographic range of theaddress specified in the business user demographics 14B. Based on theamount of money paid, the advertisement avatar may be sent to a greaternumber of members. In another application, if enough money is paid, theadvertisement avatar may override any incoming avatar filters that aredescribed in more detail below.

In operation 93, the controller 24 calculates the outgoing avatarfilters according to the identified filter parameters. For example, thederived out going filters may only send the user avatar to those membersthat have interests similar to those listed in the user demographics14B. Accordingly, the controller 24 in operation 95 only sends the useravatar to the on-line members that have similar interests in theirprofiles while filtering the avatar from all other members.

In-coming filters can also be provided to control what avatars are shownto a particular user. For example, the user may not want to see theavatar for every on-line member. If too many avatars are displayed, theuser may not easily notice the avatar of a particular member that comeson-line. The avatar of interest may simply be lost in the fray of all ofpossibly hundreds of displayed avatars.

To correct this potential problem, the controller 24 in operation 97scana the same user profile 14, user log file 16, contract list 18,email directory 20, and other member information 22 for any parametersassociated with different incoming avatar filters. For example, the usermay configure a preference 14C that indicates the user only wants to seeavatars for other on-line members that are in the user contact list 18.In another example, the preferences 14C may indicate the user only wantsto see the avatars of female on-line members.

Any identified incoming filter parameters are used by the controller 24in operation 99 to calculate the incoming avatar filters. Any avatarssent to the user are then filters according to the calculated incomingavatar filters. For example, the user may only want to see the avatarsof other on-line members that are currently browsing a same website. Ifthe user moves to another website, the controller 24 may thenautomatically start displaying only the avatars for members currentlyviewing the new website.

In another application, a manager for a particular business or groupwithin a business may set up their preferences 14C to only display theavatars of employees that have sold more than 1 million dollars worth ofequipment and that have worked for the company for less than a year.This sales and employment history information could be automaticallyloaded into the member information 22 by a management and sales softwareapplication. The identified employee avatars could be displayed on anon-line webpage or in the manager's business email application.

In another application, the user may specifically identify members thatwill always have their avatars filtered. Similar to the outgoingfilters, certain incoming filters may only be available to users with aparticular user status or only available to users that have paid aparticular fee. For example, a user may only be able to filter incomingavatars for other members that are at or below the same status level.

Thus, the filters may be user selectable based on different criteriasuch as paying for a particular service or according to a particularuser status or activity. In other applications, filters may be appliedto different users based on different user profile information. Forexample, avatars of other members may automatically be filtered that donot have demographic information 14D, activity information 14D, log fileinformation 16, and/or contact list information 18 in common with theuser. In another application, the number of available filters increaseswith user status. For example, active users on a web-site may haveaccess to more outgoing and in-coming filter operations.

It should also be understood that the outgoing and incoming avatars canbe filtered both for on-line and/or off-line members. For example, theuser may still want to see other members that are currently off-linethat are within a geographic region. This allows the user to sendcommunications or conduct other activities with persons that may notnecessarily be logged in.

All of the filtering operations described above are of course only asmall sample of the essentially limitless number of parameters that canbe used to generate different types of outgoing and in-coming filters.As previously explained, the avatars can be any type of data that may beassociated with a particular user and is not limited to pictures orimages. For example, icons representing different software work productsuch as software spread sheets, word documents, power pointpresentations, etc. could also be displayed to different users based onany of the different filter parameters described above.

Electronic Mail

As described above, the avatar display system can be used in conjunctionwith any on-line application 30. Several examples above discussed howthe avatars can be displayed according to different activities or statusthat members obtain on a particular website or according to activitiesor personal information that other members may have in common with theuser. The avatar display system can also display avatars in conjunctionwith an electronic mail (EMAIL) application 30.

An image based electronic mail system is described in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/619,520, filed Jan. 3, 2007 which isherein incorporated by reference. The avatar display system 12 (FIG. 1)in one embodiment is used in combination with this image basedelectronic mail system.

FIG. 10 shows an email in-box page 112 that includes a compose newmessage icon 114 that when selected brings up a new page for composing anew email message. In-box page 112 may also include a scrollable messagelist (message list) 120, scrollable message pane 124, and scrollablefavorites list 128. The message list 120 shows a chronologically sortedlist of the mostly received emails. In this embodiment, the message list120 shows the sender names 122A, subject lines 122B, dates 122C, andsize 122D for each of the chronologically sorted emails. The differentemail information 122A-122D displayed in message list 120 can be changedor reconfigured.

The message pane 124 shows the body of selected email messages. In aninitial default condition, the body of the most recently received emailin message list 120 may be displayed in message pane 124. Otherwise, themessage pane 124 shows the body of a particular selected email message.The user can reply to the displayed email in message pane 124 byselecting reply icon 126A, forward the email message by selectingforward icon 126B, and delete the displayed email by selecting deleteicon 126C.

Of particular interest is an email senders bar 116 that graphicallydisplays avatars 118 for persons sending email messages to the user. Inthe description below; pictures, graphics, placeholders, photographs,video clips, audio clips, or any other visual or audio information usedto identify an email message sender is referred to generally as anavatar 118.

The avatars 118 may be displayed statically in sender bar 116 or may bescrolled across or around the sender bar 116 similar to as describedabove in FIG. 3 or 4. In one configuration, the sender bar 116 may bepopulated with avatars 118A-118F representing some number of most recentunique email senders to the account holder (user) of in-box page 112.However, the avatars 118 may also be displayed in sender bar 116according to other email criteria.

FIG. 11A describes in more detail some of the ways avatars 118A-118F maybe displayed in sender bar 116. The email system is accessed and thedefault inbox page 112 displayed in operation 139. For example, the usermay log into the website operating the email system by entering a username and password. A website may then either automatically display thedefault inbox page 112 in FIG. 10, or may display the inbox page 112after the user clicks on an associated link in a home page.

Operation 140 accesses the email server and may automatically identifyother members who may currently be on-line. On-line members may bepersons who have logged onto a same website, or other people who arecurrently logged onto their computers or logged into an email system ina same LAN.

Operation 142 describes one embodiment where avatars 118 for all theidentified on-line members are displayed in sender bar 116. For example,avatars for all of the company employees that are currently logged intotheir computers may be constantly scrolled across sender bar 116. Ofcourse, this is just one example of which avatars 118 may be displayedin sender bar 116.

In another embodiment, operation 144 identifies the different on-line oroff-line status of members. This may include identifying personsidentified as “in the office”, “temporarily out of the office”, orpossibly “on vacation” for some period of time. This information can belocated via the member profiles and other email configurationinformation.

Operation 146 displays or highlights the avatars 118 according to theiridentified office status. For example, avatars 118 may only be displayedfor members identified as currently in the office. Alternatively, allmembers of a particular enterprise, LAN, website, etc. may be displayedand the avatars dimmed or “grayed-out” for members that are currentlyoff-line or identified as being out of the office.

In yet another embodiment, operation 148 searches the user emaildirectory 20 in FIG. 1 for other email message information. For example,the email senders associated with the most recently received emails,unread emails, the largest number of unread emails, the oldest unreademails, etc. may be identified in operation 148. The avatars 118 ormessages for the identified email senders may then be displayed orhighlighted in operation 150.

The user receiving the email messages may also configure the avatardisplay system to select between displaying a local picture of the emailsender uploaded in the user contacts list 18 or display a pictureobtained from the sender's website profile 22 in FIG. 1. If a memberprofile picture is preferred, the avatar system may determine if any ofthe avatars that will be displayed are associated with members of thesame website. For example, the avatar display system may compare thesender email address in a received email message with email addresses ofother website members. Sender email addresses matching a website memberemail address are identified. Any associated photo, audio clip, image,graphic, etc., in the identified website member profile is thendisplayed as one of the avatars 118 in sender bar 116 of FIG. 10.

In another embodiment, the member profile may identify a link to apersonal website location that contains the image or audio clip fordisplaying in bar 116. Accordingly, the avatar system accesses orselects the link provided in the user profile and displays theinformation at the link location as one of the avatars 118 in bar 116.

Thus, in one embodiment, the email sender has control over what photo isdisplayed as an avatar 118 in inbox 112. This may be significant in thatthe email sender may want to frequently change the images displayed withparticular email messages. In another embodiment, the email sender mayalso configure their website member profile to provide different imagesfor different destination email addresses. The email system identifiesthe image in the member profile associated with the destination emailaddress and attaches the identified image to the sent email message.

The email sender may not be a member of the website operating the emailsystem in FIG. 10, or the user of in-box 112 may choose to override anyphoto identified in a website member profile. In either case, the avatarsystem may check the user contacts list 18 in FIG. 1 for previouslyuploaded images. For example, the user may add contact information for aparticular person that, in addition to including an email address,business address and various phone numbers, may also include anassociated photo or other image. The avatar system checks the usercontact list 18 for an email address corresponding with the sender emailaddress in the received email message. If a matching email address islocated and the located contact includes a photo, then that photo isdisplayed as one of the avatars 18 in the recent sender bar 16.

The avatar display system may also be configured to insertadvertisements into the sender bar 116 either for particular senderemail addresses, domain names, or generically for any email sender withno associated photo. For example, a recently received email may beidentified as coming from a particular airline company. The avatarsystem inserts an advertisement or banner advertisement avatar 118C thatwas previously provided by the airline. The banner ad avatar 118C may bedisplayed in the sender bar 116 whenever one of the most recentlyreceived emails has a particular airline email address or domain name.

FIG. 11B shows some more examples of how the avatars may be displayedaccording to different email message conditions. In this example,avatars 28A and 28C are associated with members that are currently inthe office. Avatar 28B is grayed out reflecting a member currently notin the office. The bolding on avatar 28D represents an email senderassociated with an unread email. The highlighting on avatar 28Eindicates the associated email sender has sent more than 20 emailmessages within the last week.

The avatars 28 associated with particular email senders or emailconditions may be bolded, flashed, displayed with an associated sound orvideo clip, or given any other display characteristic. A message orother text may also be displayed next to the avatars 28 as shown in FIG.11B further explaining the office status or email status for emails sentby the associated member.

Identifying Common Contacts

FIG. 12 shows the same avatars 28 previously shown in FIG. 3. However,in this embodiment, the avatar display system may filter avatars 28according to common contact information. Alternatively, any commoncontact information between the user and another member may be displayedalong with that members associated avatar 28. Identifying these commoncontacts can increase or simplify the social interaction betweendifferent on-line members.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, the user contact information 18 is scannedin operation 160 and other member contact information is scanned inoperation 162. The avatars 28 for on-line members identified in the usercontact list may be displayed in operation 164.

In another embodiment, any members that may have some direct or indirectassociation with the user may be identified in operation 166. Forexample, a particular member SAPPHIRE associated with say avatar 28C,may not be contained within the use contact list 18. However, one ormore of the members in user contract list 18 may have a contact for themember SAPPHIRE associated with avatar 28C. This is referred to as a‘once-removed’ contact. If the user adds an avatar preference 14C(FIG. 1) to display all once removed contacts, then the avatar 28C forthe once removed contact member SAPPHIRE displayed in operation 168. Anylevel of removed contacts may be selected by the user. For example, theuser may configure avatar preferences 14C in FIG. 1 to identify allon-line members that are at least twice or three times removed from theuser contacts 18.

Another feature in operation 170 may display a contact tree 156 thatshows the relationship between members. For example, the contact tree156 shows that the member SAPPIRE is once removed from the user througha common member BILLY. The contact tree 156 also shows that the memberSAPPIRE is twice removed from the user through members HIT and BPLATE123in the user contact list 18. This means that neither members HIT orBPLATE123 have member SAPPIRE in their contact lists. However, anothermember HIPPIE has the members HIT, BPLATE123, and SAPPIRE in his contactlist. In other words, the user is twice removed from member SAPPIREthough member HIPPIE and either member HIT or BPLATE123.

In yet another embodiment, operation 172 displays avatars 28 for randommembers. These members may or may not currently be on-line. User actionseither selecting or hovering a cursor over one of the displayed avatars28 is monitored in operation 174. For example, the user may selectavatar 28C in FIG. 12. Operation 176 searches the contacts for both theuser and the selected member SAPPHIRE. The avatars 28 of the commonmembers or the contact tree 156 showing the links between the user andthe member selected for avatar 28C are displayed in operation 178.

In another embodiment, the number of friends or members in commonbetween the user and the members are also displayed along with avatars28. For example, avatar 28C indicates the user has one person in theircontact list in common with the associated member SAPPHIRE. Avatar 28Dindicates the user has two people in their contact list in common withthat associated member HIPPIE.

Social Website

Several examples were given above for use of the avatar display systemwith social websites. One example of a social website incorporated byreference above is entitled: APPARATUS FOR INCREASING SOCIAL INTERACTIONOVER AN ELECTRONIC NETWORK. One aspect of this system is shown in FIG.14.

Referring to FIG. 14, a user homepage 229 includes a website name 230.The page 229 also includes a scrolling avatar display 232 that displaysthe avatars of website members in any of the different ways describedabove.

The page 229 displays an alert window 234 that provides variousindications about website operation as well as award notifications andindications of activity by other users. The page also includes amessaging window 236 that displays links to other members. The page 229also includes a user advertisement window 238 that displays messagesthat are sent from one user to all other members. For example, one usermay expend tokens or pay money to have his message and photo sent to allwebsite members for display in window 238.

The page 229 also includes a link 242 to a user-directory, whichdisplays photos and names of every site member. The page 229 includes atoken-biddable spotlight space 244, which spotlights a user's profileand photo for a predetermined amount of time when a user wins an auctionusing tokens or money. The page 229 also includes a top referrer field245 that identifies top referrers identified by a correlator.

The page 229 also includes profile information 246 that allows a user toview and edit his active profile. Other user objects may be uploaded orchanged using the navigation window 240.

The page 229 also includes a field 248 showing photos of members thathave recently viewed the user's profile included in field 246. Thus, theuser is able to identify other members that viewed his profile and thatmay be interested in communicating with him. A field 250 shows pollsthat are broadcasted by users having a score sufficient to enablepolling functionality.

A portion 252 organizes links to expend tokens or money, such as bypurchasing virtual beers, initiating happy hours, purchasing useradvertisements in the window 238, etc. Another window 254 providesvarious other information such as links to flash games, links to onlinelounges or chat rooms that may be formed and controlled by high scoringusers, links to audio or video segments uploaded by other users, etc.All of these features are described in more detail in the co-pendingapplication referred to above. The avatar display system 12 in FIG. 1can operate with any of the activities and information contained in page229.

Several preferred examples have been described above with reference tothe accompanying drawings. Various other examples of the invention arealso possible and practical. The system may be exemplified in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as being limited to theexamples set forth above.

The figures listed above illustrate preferred examples of theapplication and the operation of such examples. In the figures, the sizeof the boxes is not intended to represent the size of the variousphysical components. Where the same element appears in multiple figures,the same reference numeral is used to denote the element in all of thefigures where it appears.

Only those parts of the various units are shown and described which arenecessary to convey an understanding of the examples to those skilled inthe art. Those parts and elements not shown are conventional and knownin the art.

The system described above can use dedicated processor systems, microcontrollers, programmable logic devices, or microprocessors that performsome or all of the operations. Some of the operations described abovemay be implemented in software and other operations may be implementedin hardware.

For the sake of convenience, the operations are described as variousinterconnected functional blocks or distinct software modules. This isnot necessary, however, and there may be cases where these functionalblocks or modules are equivalently aggregated into a single logicdevice, program or operation with unclear boundaries. In any event, thefunctional blocks and software modules or features of the flexibleinterface can be implemented by themselves, or in combination with otheroperations in either hardware or software.

Having described and illustrated the principles of the invention in apreferred embodiment thereof, it should be apparent that the inventionmay be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from suchprinciples. We claim all modifications and variation coming within thespirit and scope of the following claims.

1. A method, comprising: monitoring the activities or status ofdifferent members on a network site; identifying avatars representingthe different members that may include any combination of image, video,or sounds; and displaying the avatars on a display page according to thedifferent activities or status of the members on the network site. 2.The method according to claim 1 including scrolling the avatars across,down, or around the display as a human ticker.
 3. The method accordingto claim 1 including fading images or sounds in and out of the avatars.4. The method according to claim 1 including: displaying a first imagein one of the avatars representing one of the members; and fading thefirst image out of the avatar while fading in a second image in to theavatar representing a second member.
 5. The method according to claim 1including playing out audio clips associated with the members whiledisplaying still or moving images in the avatars associated with thesame members.
 6. The method according to claim 1 including displayingdifferent avatar colors, highlighting, or shapes according to the memberstatus or activities.
 7. The method according to claim 1 including:identifying membership levels assigned to the members according to typesof interactions performed by the members on the network site; andvarying how the avatars are displayed for the members according to theirassigned member ship levels.
 8. The method according to claim 1including displaying only the avatars for members that are currentlylogged onto the network site.
 9. The method according to claim 1including displaying the avatars for new members or new users of thenetwork site differently than the avatars for other members.
 10. Themethod according to claim 1 displaying the avatars for members that havepaid an associated avatar fee differently than the avatars for othermembers.
 11. An apparatus, comprising: a computing device displayingimages across one or more display pages of an on-line applicationrepresenting different users of the on-line application, the computingdevice varying how the images are displayed for the different usersaccording to activities performed by the users on the on-lineapplication or according to profile information associated with thedifferent users.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein thecomputing device varies the color or shape of the displayed imagesaccording to a number of pictures uploaded by the users to the on-lineapplication.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein thecomputing device varies the color or shape of the displayed imagesaccording how long the users have been logged into the on-lineapplication.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 11 wherein thecomputing device varies the color or shape of the displayed imagesaccording to a number of blog postings by the users on the on-lineapplication.
 15. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein thecomputing device: searches log files to determine what areas of theon-line application are currently being browsed by the users; anddisplays the images of users that are currently browsing the same areasof the on-line application.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 10wherein the computing device: determines what activities are currentlybeing performed on the on-line application by the users; and displaysthe images of other users that are currently performing the sameactivities.
 17. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and amemory coupled to the one or more processors comprising instructionsexecutable by the processors, the processors operable when executing theinstructions to: identify avatars representing users for a network site,the avatars including any combination of images and/or sounds; displaythe identified avatars; monitor activities, profiles, or contacts forthe users of the network site; identify users having related activities,profiles, and/or contacts; and displaying the avatars for the identifiedusers differently than the avatars for other users.
 18. The apparatusaccording to claim 17 wherein the one or more processors scroll theavatars across or around a webpage as a human ticker.
 19. The apparatusaccording to claim 17 wherein the one or more processors: identifygeographic location information for the users; and display the avatarsfor the users having related geographic location information differentlythan the avatars for other users.
 20. The apparatus according to claim17 wherein the one or more processors: identify sex, age, or personalinterest information for the users; and display the avatars for theusers having related sex, age, or personal interest informationdifferently than the avatars for other users.
 21. The apparatusaccording to claim 17 wherein the one or more processors: identifyavatar preferences in the user profiles; and display the avatars forusers associated with the avatar preferences and filter the remainingavatars for other users.
 22. The apparatus according to claim 17 whereinthe one or more processors: search user contact lists to identify knownusers; and only display the avatars for the identified known users ordisplay the avatars for the identified known users differently than theavatars displayed for other users.
 23. A computer, comprising: one ormore processors to identify members of an associated on-line applicationor communication group and display images representing the identifiedmembers of the associated on-line application or communication group,the one or more processors monitoring activities or status of theidentified members with the on-line application or communication groupand varying how their images are displayed according to the monitoredactivities or status.
 24. The computer according to claim 23 wherein theone or more processors only display the images of the members that arecurrently logged into the on-line application or communication group.25. The computer according to claim 23 wherein the one or moreprocessors scroll the images of the identified members across or aroundan electronic mail (email) page.
 26. The computer according to claim 23wherein the one or more processors: detect selection of any of thedisplayed images; and automatically open a new email containing an emailaddress of the member associated with the selected image.
 27. Thecomputer according to claim 23 wherein the one or more processors:identify how many unread email messages are associated with the members;and display the images for the members having the most unread emailmessages or display the identified number of unread email messages nextto the displayed images of the associated members.
 28. The computeraccording to claim 23 wherein the one or more processors: identify howlong email messages associated with the members have gone unread; anddisplay the images for the members having the oldest unread emailmessages or display unread email message times next to the displayedimages of the associated members.
 29. The computer according to claim 23wherein the one or more processors: identify in office and out of officestatus for the members; and either display images or vary a color orother features of the displayed images according to the in office or outof office status of the associated members.
 30. The computer accordingto claim 29 wherein the one or more processors gray or dim out displayedimages for members that are identified with out of office status or notcurrently logged into the on-line application or communication group.31. The computer according to claim 23 wherein the one or moreprocessors: identify the contacts for the members; and display theimages or modify the displayed images for the members associated withthe identified contacts.
 32. The computer according to claim 23 whereinthe one or more processors detect members that have purchased aparticular status level with the on-line application or communicationgroup and vary how the images for the detected members are displayedaccording to the purchased status level.
 33. A method comprising:identifying avatars for members of a website or on-line application;searching contact information for the members; identifying the membershaving at least some common contact information; and only displaying theavatars for the identified members or varying how the avatars aredisplayed for the identified members.
 34. The method according to claim33 including displaying a contact tree along with the avatars showing arelationship between the common contact information of differentmembers.
 35. The method according to clam 33 including: searchingthrough the contact information to identify a first list of knownmembers; searching through the contacts for the first list of members toidentify a second list of members; and displaying avatars for at leastsome of the first and second list of members.
 36. The method accordingto 35 including displaying a contact tree identifying a relationshipbetween the members in the first and second list.
 37. The methodaccording to claim 33 including: detecting selection by a first memberof the avatar associated with a second member; identifying anyrelationships between the members known by the first member and themembers known by the second member; and displaying the identifiedrelationships to the first member.
 38. The method according to claim 33including: detecting a first member selecting or hovering a cursor overthe avatar of a second member; and notifying the second member that thefirst member selected or hovered the cursor over the image of the secondmember.
 39. A computer readable medium including instructions that whenexecuted comprise: identifying filter parameters from a user profile;calculating avatar filters according to the identified filterparameters; filtering avatars received from others or filtering avatarssent to others according to the calculated avatar filters.
 40. Thecomputer readable medium according to claim 39 further comprising:identifying outgoing filter parameters; deriving outgoing avatar filtersaccording to the identified outgoing filter parameters; and filteringthe avatars sent to others according to the derived outgoing filters.41. The computer readable medium according to claim 39 furthercomprising: identifying incoming filter parameters; deriving incomingfilters according to the identified incoming filter parameters; andfiltering avatars received by the user according to the derived incomingfilters.
 42. The computer readable medium according to claim 39 furthercomprising: identifying a user activity or status; and filtering theavatars sent to others or filtering the avatars received from othersaccording to the identified user activity or status.
 43. The computerreadable medium according to claim 39 further comprising: identifying apaid for filtering status; and filtering different types of avatarsaccording to the paid for filtering status.
 44. The computer readablemedium according to claim 39 further comprising: identifying a useractivity or status that match an activity or status of others; anddisplaying avatars to the others associated with the matching activitiesor status.